The Brief

Eight months ago, a fire broke out at a massive World War II-era hangar in Tustin, spewing toxic smoke into the air and sending asbestos-laden debris raining over the surrounding communities. LAist has now mapped just how far and wide that debris fell and which neighborhoods bore the brunt of the fallout, based on data obtained by LAist from the city of Tustin.

The data illustrate the chaotic nature of the cleanup, and the panic and frustration felt by many residents as they sought help and guidance in navigating a major disaster. It affected an estimated 14,000 people and had potentially serious health consequences.

In all, the records show people reported ash and debris from the fire as far as 10 miles from the hangar, although the vast majority of reports were within three miles.

Explore the map

This is the first publicly available map showing the spread of where fire debris was reported across the county, based on public records. The fire, which started on Nov. 7 and lasted for 24 days, torched one of the largest wooden structures ever built — 17 stories high and covering an area larger than five football fields.

The cleanup — which is still underway more than eight months after the fire broke out — has so far cost taxpayers around $90 million, according to Tustin officials. The bulk of that sum has been spent to remove debris presumed to contain asbestos, once considered a "wonder material" and used widely. It's now known to cause lung disease and cancer.

Hundreds of workers have spent months combing the surrounding neighborhoods in hazmat suits, searching through bushes for chunks of charred, fibrous debris (a sign that it may contain asbestos), vacuuming ash off patios, and in some cases, hauling away soot-covered lawn furniture and cushions, which can't be fully cleaned of asbestos.

"It was a tremendous undertaking," said Tustin Mayor Austin Lumbard. "We've made so much progress over these last months, and I'm very proud of it."

Multiple state and federal agencies were involved in developing and implementing the cleanup protocols, which officials say sought to balance safety with speed as they dealt with hundreds of cleanup requests daily in the first few weeks of the fire.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Nearly 1,400 addresses mapped

Through public records requests, LAist identified 1,382 addresses where either a resident reported debris from the hangar fire or a city contractor inspected a property for fire debris. The vast majority of the addresses correspond to private homes, but the data also includes parks, businesses and schools.

The largest concentration of reports was from Columbus Square, the neighborhood directly north of the hangar site.

People reported debris as far north as the Anaheim Hills and as far west as Foothill Ranch — both about 10 miles away from the burn site.

Workers hired by a condo association clean the exterior of homes in Columbus Square after testing in December found asbestos and lead.

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It’s important to note that the city's records for these and hundreds of other addresses where debris was reported are incomplete: Often, the records were not updated following inspection, making it hard to determine whether debris was found, and whether that debris likely contained asbestos, according to the records given to LAist by the city.

Because of this, it's unclear exactly how far away from the fire asbestos-containing debris was confirmed. But documents obtained by LAist from the Orange County Fire Authority show that debris containing asbestos was confirmed at least three miles northeast of the hangar, likely carried by Santa Ana winds that blew in the days following the fire break-out.

How did the fire start?

The Orange County Fire Authority was alerted in the early hours of Nov. 7 to a fire at one of two historic hangars that housed blimps used to patrol for enemy submarines off the U.S. coastline during World War II. The hangars were commissioned in 1942. Because of wartime steel rationing, they were built almost entirely of wood — 2.7 million board feet each. That's roughly equivalent to the amount of timber contained in four-and-a-half General Sherman giant sequoias or about 5,400 average size homes.

A historic view of the sprawling interior of one of the blimp hangers at the former military base.

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City of Tustin

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When firefighters arrived on scene, they could find no working hydrant near the smoking hangar, according to fire authority records obtained by LAist. The hangar was equipped with a sprinkler system, but it was "non-operational," according to Navy spokesperson Christopher Dunne. Dunne told LAist that utilities on the former military base, including water systems, were transferred to the city of Tustin in May 2002.

Using fire engines and two water-dropping helicopters, more than 100 firefighters fought the blaze. But they ultimately decided to let it burn out, in part because of the risk to first responders that the structure would collapse.

Despite ample documentation from the Navy and the city of Tustin showing that asbestos, lead paint and chemicals were used extensively throughout the building, officials did not initially warn residents and onlookers that smoke and debris from the fire could be particularly dangerous.

Cars, trucks and apartment buildings near the remaining Tustin hangar offer a sense of scope: The hangar that burned down was built with the same amount of lumber it would take to build about 5,400 average-sized homes.

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LAist

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The historic blimp hangar, at right, seen as it burned on Nov. 7, 2023.

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Jae C. Hong

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Associated Press

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As the building burned, nearby residents, veterans and others with sentimental ties to the former Tustin air base flocked to the fenceline to get a final glimpse of the beloved hangars.

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A closer look at the damaged hull left behind.

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Courtesy André J. Ausseresses

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As the building burned, nearby residents, veterans and others with sentimental ties to the former Tustin air base flocked to the fenceline to get a final glimpse of the beloved hangars. Children at nearby elementary schools collected chunks of the charred hangar as mementos. Gardeners unwittingly spread debris around with leaf blowers.

It wasn't until nearly two days after the fire broke out that the South Coast Air Quality Management District released the results of testing showing that some fire debris contained up to 37% asbestos. Subsequent testing would find fire debris that contained up to 75% asbestos, according to documents obtained by LAist from the county fire authority.

When breathed in, asbestos fibers can become lodged in the lungs and cause serious health consequences that often don't show up until decades later. Asbestos exposure is linked to more than 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Other official testing from the early days of the fire found trace amounts of asbestos in air samples, and elevated levels of lead and other heavy metals inside the smoke plume, although subsequent air quality testing was within normal parameters.

The test results kicked the fire response into high gear.

The city declared a local state of emergency and closed all parks. The Tustin Unified School District temporarily closed all of its schools and implemented distance learning. The Orange County Health Care Agency advised people to stay indoors, keep windows closed, and avoid touching ash or debris from the fire. Some people would end up waiting weeks for city contractors to remove toxic debris from their front porches, yards and balconies.

How bureaucracy complicated the cleanup

The cleanup has faced challenges from the beginning, in part because of the web of agencies and jurisdictions involved and the sheer spread of the debris as documented in the map. Since the military base closed in 1999, much of the land has been sold off and turned into shopping centers, schools, apartments and neighborhoods — including many of those heavily affected by toxic fire debris.

But the Navy has retained ownership of both hangars and the land immediately surrounding them, while it monitors the status of groundwater contaminants stemming from their former use. The contaminants are primarily per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and trichloroethylene (TCE). (The contaminated groundwater underneath the former Tustin base is not used for drinking water.)

Hundreds of workers toiled daily during the weeks following the hangar fire breakout, collecting and bagging potentially toxic debris.

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The Navy, however, doesn't maintain the base, so the county and city of Tustin were forced to take charge of the fire and the subsequent cleanup.

The cleanup has also been complicated because asbestos remediation is highly regulated. Cleanup plans require approval from the local Air Quality Management District, and anyone who oversees testing or removal of asbestos must be certified by the state.

The voices of panic, frustration

On Nov. 12, five days after the fire broke out, asbestos contractors began cleaning up debris in public areas around the hangar site.

By then, residents were desperate to know whether they had asbestos debris in their yards and inside their homes, and if so, how to get it properly cleaned.

On Nov. 14, the city announced it was launching a call center and online form where residents could report debris and request a cleanup. The city reported receiving 853 cleanup requests in the first three days, according to a memo from O.C. fire division chief Craig Covey.

Contractors wouldn't start picking up debris on private property until two weeks after the fire broke out, according to city records.

An LAist review of reports that came through the city's call center and debris reporting portal from Nov. 14 through Jan. 9 highlights residents' distress over the toxicity of fallout that covered roofs, patios, and yards. In some cases, residents reported that ash and debris got inside their homes.

"Our front patio, balcony above the garage, window sills inside and out, windows (inside and out) our air and HVAC ducts, on our driveway, our garage door, garage floor and exterior doors," one resident reported to the city on Nov. 17, documenting where they had found fire remnants.

Another reported on Dec. 7 that they were having severe "upper respiratory symptoms and would really appreciate you coming as soon as possible."

Some residents became frustrated after making multiple requests for cleanup. One resident reported to the city on Nov. 22: "This is my third submission. I need someone to inspect the ash on our patio and deck and roof and clean. I am a high-risk individual and have been displaced (staying elsewhere) because of this."

Reports also came in from neighboring Irvine, including from one woman who said she and her kids went to the hospital because of respiratory problems during the fire. She said it had been "impossible" to breathe at home. "We have very old windows and all ashes and small pieces of debris entered in my home," she wrote.

The limitations of the cleanup

The cleanup in residential areas has dragged on for months, and the city's asbestos contractors often went out to addresses multiple times, according to records reviewed by LAist. Residents were required to be present and sign a waiver giving workers permission to enter the exterior part of their property to assess and remove fire debris. If contractors found no one home, they would leave a flier on the door with a QR code inviting the resident to re-submit a request for cleanup. Many residents were frustrated with the process.

There was "no real definitive date or time from like a scheduling or RSVP perspective," Jeff Lawrence, a Columbus Square resident, told LAist in December.

The city's asbestos contractors did not clean rooftops or second story balconies, according to Stephanie Najera, a spokesperson for the city of Tustin. Najera wrote in an email to LAist that the cleanup "prioritized prompt and safe removal of debris from accessible ground-level areas, where the greatest potential existed for contact with the material."

But interviews with residents and records show that debris often didn't stay put in inaccessible places. Some residents filed follow-up requests after rain or wind brought debris into areas that had already been cleaned. Rooftops were a major source of this recontamination.

In one cleanup request filed with the city on Nov. 16, the resident wrote: "Cleaning crew came today but did not remove from my front patio, second story patio or roof. Now that it has rained, my rain gutters are full and clogged with debris that was on the roof, causing the debris to overflow and cover the ground again."

Lawrence, in a recent email to LAist, wrote of the repeat cleanups: "It’s literally a joke. Instead of doing it right the first time they properly wasted millions of dollars doing it the wrong way."

Documentation of the work done at individual homes was often sparse, according to interviews with residents and the city records reviewed by LAist.

When clean-up crews arrived at Lawrence's home in late November, workers advised him that the outdoor couches and other patio furniture in his backyard were contaminated and should be thrown away. But Lawrence said the workers provided no documentation of what they took or of the other remediation work they did on his property, which could be important for things like insurance claims and future liability.

"Other than our own, you know, security cameras, we have nothing that shows that they took anything or did anything or what they cleaned, what they didn't," he told LAist.

The city's asbestos contractors also generally did not test fire debris on private property for asbestos, despite residents' expectations that they would.

Initially, the city's published information — on their website and on fliers — about the cleanup process explained to residents that an asbestos specialist would visit their home, collect samples of debris for testing, and then advise them whether or not the debris had asbestos. If so, a cleanup crew would be dispatched back to the home.

In reality, the city's asbestos contractors primarily relied on visual inspections, according to Najera, to assess whether debris was likely to contain asbestos.

That left some residents anxious and uncertain about their safety.

"HELP US!!!!!" one resident wrote to the city on Nov. 22, in all caps. "WE HAVE NOW CONTACTED THIS ‘PORTAL’ THREE TIMES WITH NO RESPONSE! WE HAVE ASBESTOS IN OUR BACKYARD AND NO ONE HAS COME TO TEST IT OR CLEAN IT UP DESPITE OUR NUMEROUS PHONE CALLS AND SUBMISSIONS FOR HELP!!!!!!"

Lawrence, for his part, ended up paying private companies to test his home for asbestos in mid-November and mid-December. They documented asbestos-laden fire debris on the roof, in the gutters, and in the backyard, according to their reports, which were reviewed by LAist. They did not find asbestos in dust samples taken inside his home.

The cleanup bill totalled $12,718, which Lawrence's insurance covered. He told LAist in an email that his family still has "thousands of dollars" in claims stemming from the tossed patio furniture and other losses from the fire.

Najera told LAist in an email that the city's contracted asbestos specialists and remediation teams responded to all reports of debris. She said "the cleanup methodology and documentation protocols were approved by the federal EPA, state Department of Toxic Substances Control, the South Coast Air Quality District, and the Orange County Health Care Agency."

What the city’s test results found

In the weeks following the hangar fire, Lumbard, Tustin's mayor, repeatedly asked for help from the state and the Navy to deal with what he called an unprecedented disaster for the small city with a population of 78,000. The state declined to issue a disaster declaration related to the hangar fire, which could have opened up federal funding and other assistance for the city and its affected residents and businesses.

State Sen. Josh Newman later took up the effort, crafting a resolution urging President Joe Biden to declare the hangar fire a national emergency "to address the ongoing impacts on public health, the environment, and the local economy." The resolution, which passed through the state legislature on July 1, also asks the president and Congress to dedicate $100 million in supplemental funding for the cleanup effort.

Lumbard, in an interview with LAist, said the city was forced to handle an emergency not of its making.

"This is ultimately the Navy's responsibility," Lumbard said of the fire and the cleanup. "I'm just proud of the way the city was able to step up in a void of leadership and take action because our community needed help."

Earlier this year — several months after the hangar fire finally burnt out — Tustin hired experts to test outdoor soil and indoor dust and air samples at 50 homes near the hangar site. In May, they announced the results, saying that "no asbestos fibers were identified in soil, indoor air, or indoor dust above health screening criteria in any of the 80 homes."

Still, the debate over the fire's impact on residents' health and finances is far from over — at least two class action lawsuits and an unknown number of individual claims are in the works.

And the cleanup is not over. The Navy plans to finish dismantling the torched hangar and begin removing toxic debris from the former military base on Monday.

It's expected to take up to a year.

Maloy Moore and Brian Frank also contributed to this report.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Robbie Hall has a record of the people she has treated for overdoses at MacArthur Park.

The photos of many of the people she has treated are saved on her phone. She can scroll through them and remember each one.

Hall, an ambassador with the nonprofit Five Keys, has been doing this work for about four years and is at the park almost every day, carrying Naloxone, a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses.

She typically responds when someone stops breathing.

“I stopped counting when I got up in my 40s, because it started being gradually three of them, four of them,” Hall said. 

On a recent September morning at the park, Hall said she found a 14-year-old girl in a bathroom who was experiencing an overdose. Tears welled up as she talked about the people she encounters at the park.

“They need help, they need help,” she said. “This is every day.” 

She believes the city needs to address the problem. When asked about the plans to fence the park, she said she sees the fence as one way to improve the conditions she sees on the ground.

“They need to put something up here,” she said.

For Hall and others who work around the park, the fence is less a solution than a stopgap, something concrete to try amid problems that have proven harder to solve.

The Department of Recreation and Parks says the fence will be temporary and is still on track for construction this fall, but has not provided a specific date, cost estimate or explained what conditions would need to change before the fence comes down.

Marco Pacheco, president of the MacArthur Park Park Advisory Board, does not believe the fence will be temporary. 

“I think this is going to be permanent,” Pacheco said. “This is going to be a permanent fixture of some sort because first of all, you don’t put up a fence that costs millions of dollars to take it down. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Pacheco isn’t the only one who has doubts.

Richard Barron, who served on the Cultural Heritage Commission for 22 years before departing in July, also questioned whether the city would follow through on its promise to remove the fence.

“I doubt that the fence is going to come down,” Barron said, “especially when they’ve spent all that money. Even taking it down costs a lot of money, you know, and you’re going to throw all that material away?”

The Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners approved $2.3 million in funding for the project. The city has not said how much money will ultimately be spent on the fence.

Everyone has a different idea of what the fence will do

The city’s consultants have described a fence that would be transparent, reversible and designed to blend into the park.

Leila Hamroun, a senior preservation architect with Tetra Tech, the consulting firm working with the city on the project’s design, said the fence won’t be a dominant feature.

“The whole intent here is to guarantee that it just blends in, that it’s seamless,” Hamroun said. “It’s reversible, transparent, minimalist, consistent with the evolution of urban parks over time.”

A rendering shows the proposed green metal fence around MacArthur Park.

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Courtesy L.A. Recreation and Parks

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The fence is expected to be about 8 feet tall, with gates at eight existing entrances. Decorative elements would be considered separately, with community input expected next year.

For Michelle Garcia, who has been a vendor around MacArthur Park since 2015, it could help distinguish vendors from the people living in the park.

“I support it if they could get the homeless people out,” Garcia said. “They are the ones that make MacArthur Park look bad. But they also make us look bad, because we sell around the area, so they think we’re like them, which we’re not.”

Garcia was among a group of vendors at MacArthur Park who held a Sept. 2 press conference to call attention to what they described as police harassment and citations that pushed vendors away from the park.

“Like us, we’re trying to work and get money for our bills, our rent,” she said.

Police have their own expectations for what a fenced park could accomplish.

The Los Angeles Police Department has stepped up enforcement around the park through a joint task force with the Drug Enforcement Administration focused on drug dealing in the area. In July, Rampart Division Capt. Benedict Fernandes said the operation had significantly disrupted the drug trade, but that drug users were spreading into surrounding neighborhoods in search of narcotics.

“We know that all the communities around have been impacted because it got spread this way, sort of like a shotgun blast,” he said. “It went south, it went east, it went north, it went west.”

Fernandes said the next phase of the enforcement effort would focus on connecting unhoused people and drug users with shelter and recovery services.

The fence, he said, is meant to make the park less convenient for drug activity and “prevent crime” inside the park.

“Because that’s the problem,” Fernandes said. “The Alvarado corridor at MacArthur Park has been convenient for drug users for years. We’re just trying to make those things stop.”

Fernandes said the temporary fence along Alvarado and now the orange bollards installed in the area, have worked to disrupt that activity. 

But Hall, the outreach worker administering Narcan at the park, has not seen those types of improvements on the ground.

“Since they did that big bust? No, it got worse,” Hall said when asked whether she had seen fewer overdoses in the area.

She said people wait for police to leave the park before returning.

“If it wasn’t for Five Keys, there would be a lot more dead bodies here,” she said.

Some residents say that adding a fence around MacArthur Park would change the makeup of the neighborhood. Others welcome a change to the troubled park.

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How the fence is supposed to work

The plan calls for the park to remain open during the day, with eight entry points, and close overnight from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. LAPD would close the gates at night, and Recreation and Parks maintenance workers would reopen them each morning.

The department says the fence is intended to make the park easier to maintain. Illegal dumping, littering, vandalism and graffiti have made routine maintenance difficult, according to the department, which has said MacArthur Park generates more graffiti cleanup requests than nearby Lafayette Park.

The city has pointed to nearby Lafayette Park, which is fenced and closed at night, as a model for MacArthur Park.

Pacheco, the president of the park’s advisory board, said he has heard general support for the fence among community members. 

“In many cases, community members alluded to Lafayette Park having been fenced for a long time, the difference between the two parks, Lafayette being a lot safer and a lot cleaner and less of a problem than MacArthur Park,” he said. 

The fence still needs final approval from the five-person commission that approved the project’s conceptual phase in October. The commission has not yet set a date to consider the final plans.

To incentivize voters to cast ballots for Republicans, President Donald Trump used his convention speech to promise a dividend of $5,000 to every adult citizen if the Republican Party maintains control of Congress in the midterm election.  

"If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000," he said. "It will be called the Trump dividend, congratulations."

The money would have to be spent in the U.S., the president said. 

Trump did not provide details about where the money would come from or the legality of his promise. According to the most recent Census data, it could cost $1 trillion or more to provide these payments. 

The event is designed to rally support for Republicans in the midterms where they face an uphill battle to maintaining control of Congress. 

He said the midterms will decide if the country stumbles or surges forward, adding that he will travel to "every race," to show his support to the Republican nominees, and to Texas even more than once. 

Trump's support and his ask of voters to "pretend" that he's on the ballot could backfire given his unpopularity amid the war in Iran and the nationwide focus on affordability.

"Vote Republican and we will leave the world in our dust for generations to come," said Trump.

Apart from the $5,000 promise, Trump's address was not very different from his typical rally speech, touching on issues he often speaks about, including tariffs, the importance of destroying Iran's nuclear program, passing a bill to limit voter identification and registration rules and claiming lower inflation than when he took office. 

It was a night where Trump was the star of the show. The event, billed as a "Trumpapalooza," put the president center stage as Republican candidates, lawmakers and everyday Americans shared appreciation for Trump and his policies.

President Trump greets attendees as he walks on stage to speak on the first day of the 2026 Republican National Convention Sept. 9, 2026 in Dallas, Texas.

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"Let's hear it for the man who had the vision to hold this convention," Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., said to widespread applause.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate nominee in Texas, also opened by praising President Trump for standing up for Texas.

Paxton addressed the economy, promising tax relief policies to help American families. He also made an appeal for more support, acknowledging that his opponent, state Rep. James Talarico has the money advantage.

"I need your prayers, your vote and your support," Paxton said. "If we lose Texas, we lose the common sense revolution. If we lose the common sense revolution, we lose America."

Texas Republican Senate candidate, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton walks on stage on the first day of the 2026 Republican National Convention on Sept. 9, 2026 in Dallas, Texas.

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Rep. Brandon Gill, who represents a district north of Dallas, said this election is about "the mainstream versus the extreme."

Gill, one of the speakers with the longest address Wednesday, returned several times to transgender issues, a culture-war theme that has been especially prominent in Texas politics.

"I think we can all remember the good old days when political debates were about marginal tax rates and government spending," Gill quipped. "Now we are debating whether toddlers can become transgender, whether men can become pregnant and whether your daughter should have to share a locker room with a man."

Attorney General Todd Blanche spoke about the Trump administration's law enforcement agenda.

"President Trump will hold you accountable," he said. "If you choose violence, you will be held accountable. Now that is making America safe again."

Before Blanche, no sitting Attorney General had spoken at a political party convention, the House Judiciary Dems said on X Tuesday.

They called Blanche's participation in the convention "dumbfounding and unprecedented. Amazing how far the DOJ has fallen," said the post. 

Political parties typically hold big, televised presidential nominating conventions every four years, but this isn't a presidential election year. And midterm conventions just aren't a thing (at least not since Democrats scrapped them after a short run in 1982).

It would be reasonable to ask why Republicans, trying to hang onto their narrow majorities in the House and the Senate, would want to train so much attention on a president whose approval rating is underwater.

People hold signs on the first day of the 2026 Republican National Convention Sept. 9 in Dallas, Texas. President Donald Trump will headline the Republican National Committee's first-ever midterm convention Wednesday night.

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At a recent campaign rally, Trump laid out the theory of the case.

"The problem that we have is they say that Trump does great when he's on the ballot," said Trump, speaking in the third person. "But when he's not on the ballot, his people don't come and they don't vote.

"So, what I really want you to do is pretend please, that I am on the ballot," Trump said at the rally for South Carolina Republican Sen. Darline Graham, who is running for her seat this fall. "Just come and vote. It's so important."

But this isn't just a plea for Republican primary voters in a runoff election in a deep red state. In swing states and toss up districts, Trump and his advisors are trying to rebuild the coalition of voters who propelled him back into office in 2024, voters who don't always show up if there isn't a presidential race at the top of the ticket.

This is a different approach than that taken by most presidents whose parties are facing political headwinds in a midterm year. But President Trump has never been one to go along with the normal rules of politics.

Convention organizers say the gathering in Dallas will focus on the issues shaping the midterms, including lowering the cost of living and raising incomes, securing the border and protecting American values.

Based on an NPR analysis, using race ratings from the Cook Political Report, fewer than half of the Republican candidates in competitive House and Senate races are listed as convention speakers.

"We're going to be back in our district, working hard," said Republican Rep. Zach Nunn of Iowa, when quizzed on his convention plans by reporters on Capitol Hill.

He's in a toss-up race for reelection.

But if the White House is concerned about attendance, Vance isn't letting on.

"The president and I can go and make [the] argument on national TV," Vance said at a White House press briefing last week. "We don't need a congressman in a tight race to be there in all cases."

There's also a question of who will be watching. The convention is up against the NFL season opener on Wednesday night, a rematch of this year's Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. There's a primetime football game on Thursday night as well.

Democrats aren't planning their own convention and the counterprogramming will be fairly limited.

"Most elected officials don't even want to go to [presidential nominating conventions]," said John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster and consultant. "I mean, the expiration date on conventions has passed a long, long time ago."

And, he argues, the war in Iran, unpopular tariffs, high gas prices and broader affordability concerns, mean the political environment "is disastrous for Republicans running for office and this Republican convention is not going to change that narrative one iota for the midterm elections."

Ohio Republican Party chairman Alex Triantafilou said he had no trouble finding people interested in attending. But the state party was also allotted far fewer tickets than it would get for a traditional presidential convention.

"From the very beginning we were told that we could use this as an opportunity to rally the troops and to raise some money for the party and those two things have certainly happened," said Triantafilou.

He said the state party is using the convention to excite grassroots Republicans and he hopes the president will visit Ohio again sometime before the November election.

"He is very popular here," said Triantafilou. "We do talk a lot about low propensity voters and turning them out. Nobody turns out low propensity voters in Ohio like the president. So, we welcome this."

Whether this novel midterms approach will pay off is yet to be seen, but some Republicans say it may be the best shot the party has to limit its losses in what is widely expected to be a tough year for Republicans.

"Running to President Trump and defending his record, I think, is an interesting strategy and I think it is so interesting that it might just work," said Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, a Republican group. "We've tried running away from the president in previous midterms and we almost always lose."

Schilling will be at the convention and says he expects many of his friends involved in Republican politics to be there as well. He hopes they emerge energized and ready to drive a focused message heading into the midterms.

NPR's Eric McDaniel contributed reporting for this story.
Copyright 2026 NPR

The longest road trip in NFL history has brought the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams to Australia’s sports capital for a season opener in front of more than 100,000 football-hungry fans packed into the Southern Hemisphere’s largest stadium.

The NFC West rivals are playing Australia’s first NFL game, and the starkly differing ways in which they made this epic journey have attracted almost as much attention as the two star-studded rosters preparing to put on a show.

The 49ers have been Down Under for more than a week, adjusting their body clocks in the traditional manner and winning over thousands of Aussie fans who appreciate their commitment to the historic moment.

The Rams were only scheduled to arrive in Melbourne around dawn Thursday, roughly 28 hours before the Friday morning kickoff that’s necessary to play the game Thursday night in prime time in the U.S. That’s because head coach Sean McVay is convinced they can thwart jet lag and optimize their game readiness by staying home on California time.

Both teams agree this contrast in preparation is not a referendum on the best way to handle a pair of 16-hour flights with a football game in between — even if the rest of the world might see it that way after the final whistle.

Instead, this game is primarily a difficult early test for both the Super Bowl favorite Rams and the talent-laden 49ers, who also intend to be a title challenger. The coaching staffs and veteran players all know each other thoroughly after a decade of competition between Shanahan and McVay, who are both constantly looking for an edge.

“I don’t think there’s any right way to do it,” said defensive end Myles Garrett, who will make his Rams debut in Australia. “They have a plan, and I’m sure they consulted different teams and people to find out a way to combat jet lag and such long travel. We’ve done the same thing. I think we’re both riding our methodologies.”

Garrett will be joined by star cornerback Trent McDuffie and cornerback Jaylen Watson in their debuts with Los Angeles’ revamped defense.

But Garrett will not be joined at the MCG by Aaron Donald, who ended his 2 1/2-year retirement late last month. The Rams decided the 35-year-old Donald will stay home as he ramps up deliberately for his return — and that’s a beacon of hope for Shanahan, who was sure his old friend McVay would bring Donald to Australia.

“I’ve never been more excited to be wrong about something,” Shanahan said.

Last month, street vending became a flashpoint during one of the recent debates for L.A. mayor when incumbent Karen Bass said, "I do not think that you should have a food vendor in front of a restaurant. Period," drawing a comparison to unhoused encampments.

The remarks set off an almost immediate backlash. Mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, who has her own 9-point plan to support street vendors, said Bass "took a shot" at the street vending community and reiterated her commitment to work toward regulations and legalizing their operations.

Bass's office later eased its stance, saying it had directed the LAPD to stop issuing criminal citations to street vendors — and to dismiss any that had been issued in error.

Street vending remains part of the Los Angeles landscape, and the backlash from the debate brought to light just how confusing its legality can be. To understand how we got here, it helps to start with the basics.

Is street vending legal?

Yes. Since SB 946 in 2018, state law has decriminalized it. That means cities and counties can't criminally cite vendors or ban them from specific zones. They can, however, still enforce health and safety rules — things like sidewalk clearance and ADA access.

So why does it feel unregulated?

On a recent segment for AirTalk, Memo Torres of L.A. Taco pointed to a stark gap between L.A.'s vending population and its permitted vendors. According to an email from the California Restaurant Association reported by FOX 11, an estimated 50,000 street vendors operate across Los Angeles — yet only 53 hold permits specifically for food sales.

Why so few permits? 

Vending requirements largely mirror restaurant-grade standards — large refrigeration units, multi-basin sinks — that don't fit the reality of most vendor setups: flat-top griddles, folding tables, pop-up tents.

That isn't to say there haven't been efforts by the city to address the permitting gap. In 2024, the City Council, with Raman's backing, voted to drop the annual permit fee from $541 to $27.51.

Raman's mayoral campaign has since proposed another potential fix: extending a state permit category — currently used by vendors at farmers markets who share equipment like a communal three-compartment sink — to street vendors, so operators wouldn't need their own restaurant-grade setup to qualify.

What about health and safety?

County health inspectors technically oversee street food vendors, but both industry and vendor advocates agree enforcement is inconsistent — leaving reliable data on violations hard to come by.

Are vendors and restaurants actually enemies?

A 2015 Economic Roundtable study found that businesses located near street vendors were more likely to see job growth than those without nearby vendors.

What’s next 

Proposals like Raman's permitting reforms aim to close the gap — but for now, most of L.A.'s vendors remain outside the formal system.